Somebody’s Daughter by Carol Wyer is the 7th book in the Natalie Ward series which has gone from strength to strength.

I have loved all the books in the series and this is no exception.

Natalie has been promoted to DCI whilst still the main character in the book we now see much more of Lucy from her team who has been promoted to DI. They have always worked well together and this promotion for both of the team members has given the books another avenue for us to go down and explore more about the characters. I love that with each book we learn a little more about the characters personal lives as we do about their work lives and solving the crimes.

People are being murdered daily and the team really need to find the killer and get them off the streets.

The characters have all suffered abuse in one way or another and the book certainly shows the dark side of what they have been through in parts and how their lives link together.

There are loads of twists and turns as always which keep you turning the pages and not wanting to put the book down.

Fast paced, easy to read 5*

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this brilliant book

back with our favourite team though things have changed....natalie has been promoted and now has a much bigger team to run, lucy has also promoted in charge of the old team...dynamics still needs to be ironed out but they all work well, some new characters make an appearance....

pimps and prostitutes
gentry folk

drugs and violence but also we have the street people who sleep in doorways and are abused daily, they see all

when the first body of a prostitute turns up it seems like a bad trick gone wrong but when the second girl turns up and is badly treated and murdered could there be a serial killer...

but when another body of a teacher turns up there seems to be no rhyme or reason behind it all and also i have to admit to being very confused and thought thats it the magic has gone to many changes to our team...but then low and behold the author pulled it out of the bag and wham it all makes sense....

brilliant.....another brilliant book by this author...role on the next one...

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

This was gripping for the first 80%, but then it got a bit adventure/thrillery and lost my interest somewhat. The solution was also disappointing to me; I had been hoping for something a little more twisty or devious.

Natalie has been promoted to DCI and therefore ought to be managing the team from her office, but the author has devised reasons why the DI, Lucy, needs her assistance. There were chapters where (despite the fact that their home lives are very different) I lost track of whether the protagonist was Lucy or Natalie. While I don't think this series would ever have been described as 'cosy' this one was really quite graphic and disturbing in places. The body count was ridiculously high - some one died every day and Lucy/Natalie would say something like "Shit! The Super isn't going to like this" and they would all just keep on doing what they were before.

Despite my criticisms this was a page turner and I really enjoy this series.

Detective Natalie Ward has caught the case of a murdered teenage girl. She was a runaway and had been working the streets. The next day another teenage girl is found murdered. Both haver connections to a violent young man named Tommy. It’s not until a “good” girl, one with the right parents and address is found murdered that things are taken seriously. Natalie, who wants justice fo all her victims tries to find a connection between all three. And just when she thinks she may be getting close to uncovering the truth, one of her prime suspects turns up in a local waterway. This is a tense police procedural, stomach knotting stuff

Somebody’s Daughter, number 7 in the Natalie Ward series and another belter. Though still broken by her daughter’s death we find Natalie in a much better place. Happy with Mike and with a much better relationship with David all is looking good for her both personally and professionally. Having accepted the promotion to DCI Natalie is coming to terms with having to take a step back and be less hands on and we see Lucy step up to DI to.head what becomes a mammoth investigation.
Interesting main plot dealing with some very hard subjects and with lots of twists and turns. Not only won’t you know who the perpetrators are, you won’t know how many there are either and you’ll be second guessing yourself all the way through
The subplots and characters continue to develop nicely as not only Natalie has to face issues at home.
Great read and finishing with the promise of lots more to come for them all
Number 8 quick as you like please!

Another fantastic read in this gripping crime series.
Natalie is now DCI and I was pleased to see she stayed involved in the case that Lucy was leading on.
And what a case it is! I’ve never known so many murders in one book and it really ramped up the tension within the new team.
Tasker didn’t help by putting the pressure on them too, but with bodies turning up left, right and centre I really did feel for Lucy.
With the victims ranging from young girls who’ve got tangled up with a pimp, to a department store manager and also a teacher - what is the motive behind these killings?
We also get a few flashback chapters which become clear later in the book and create a fantastic conclusion to the book.
This is a real page turner that will have you hooked from the first few pages.
As always, if you’ve not read this series, I can highly recommend it.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I've just finished reading this book and my head is spinning!

As with all of Carol's thrillers, I was left guessing right up until the very end and was completely shocked by the conclusion.

Natalie Ward is such a great character. She and her team make these books so real. I really feel like I'm trying to solve the case with them. I feel like I've grown with them all  and am proud of their growth and achievements.

This particular case was one of the most compelling for me. I really had no idea who was to blame and who was trustworthy. So twisted, gritty and dark. There are some disturbing themes but they draw you in and help you feel for the victims.

I absolutely love this series and each book is better than the one before.

Author Carol Wyer loves shaking us up each time we get to read a new book of the series. DCI Natalie Ward is one of the best there is.

Girls were found strangled to death at a car park, soon the body count increased with a slight change in the MO of the killer. With DI Lucy at the helm and Natalie being the boss more in a supervisory role, until things escalated, then it was all hands on deck as pressures mounted with no sustainable leads.

Another winner by the author, this was a solid police procedural but with a difference. The dynamics of the team had changed in subtle ways, both at work and home. I loved seeing how the team managed to find a balance. Vulberabily with memories along with twists in Natalie’s past made me curious about what was in store with this gal.

The investigation was thorough with cohesive work done by all, barring a twist in the group. The author did throw all the cards in the air. The story had its suspenseful moments, the team had a puzzle of a case with multiple bodies, forensics backing them completely. It was completely a race against time, where each team member had something to prove. Everything was same, yet they had changed.

It was fun to see Natalie trying to find her work-life balance along with dealing with shocks of her past. There were still a lot of skeletons hidden in her closet.

A fun read, indeed.

This is book #7 in the Natalie Ward series.  It can be read as a standalone book, but to understand the characters past storylines I would recommend reading the other books of the series also.  It's great to see Natalie back and in the new role as Detective Chief Inspector, with Lucy Carmichael filling in her role as Detective Inspector.  They are on the case of a missing teenager, Amelia Saunders, who is found dead in a local car park.  It appeared, at first, that with Natalie's promotion, she may take more of a back seat with the investigations but happily she doesn't and is there to steer Lucy in the right direction! 

I have always liked Natalie's character, and over the course of the series we have got to know her very well, both through the good times and the bad.  It's great to see Natalie developing her relationship with Mike Sullivan, her love interest from previous books, and getting to know his young daughter whilst trying to deal with her own feelings about her own daughter is obviously difficult for her.  On one hand we see Natalie moving on, on the other we can see things are still just as distressing for her as they were.  This for a die hard Natalie fan like myself is just as upsetting to read as it is for Natalie herself!

The crime side of the story was hard going, tense and shocking, with the body count rising very quickly.  The backgrounds and stories of some of the victims were saddening and the things that were done to them were horrific.  The descriptions of their injuries made me want to cry for them and sent me an overwhelming urge to protect them.  Whilst the storyline does feature some distressing topics, it is sensitively written and all needed for the storyline to be so powerful.  The pace was fast and the suspense built up quickly.  As like other books, there were few clues given throughout the storyline leaving you to try and work it all out yourself, swapping and changing your mind as you go.  I really enjoyed Lucy Carmichael's new role as Inspector and whilst she struggled with some things, she did good and it will interesting to see how her character progresses in future books in both her work and home life.  

A review of a Natalie Ward book wouldn't be complete without a few words mentioned about Natalie's ex husband, David.  I've never been David's biggest fan, and thankfully he doesn't feature much in this book...but when he does, my goodness he certainly brings a storyline into it which is going to bring Natalie's world crashing down again!  The next book of the series is definitely one which you won't want to miss!!  Just when you think Natalie's storyline is coming to an end, the author throws a spanner in the works which will hopefully keep her storyline running for a lot longer. I think it's safe to say I was left open mouthed by the time I'd turned the last page!! Brilliant writing, fantastic book and I'm very excited about what is to come for Natalie!!!

I am a massive fan of the Natalie Ward series and Somebody's Daughter could well be the best book yet! Following on from the events of The Secret Admirer, we see that the team has undergone a slight reshuffle. I enjoyed seeing how Natalie, Lucy and Murray reacted to the new team dynamic and how they got along with the newer members of the team. There is a lot of potential in this team and I look forward to finding out more about them.

Somebody's Daughter is darker than its predecessors and. Wyer has tackled some interesting subjects such as prostitution L, rape and drug use. It made uncomfortable reading at times but the topics are handled with sensitivity as Wyer reminds us, as the title suggests, that the victims are always somebody's daughter, no matter what they have done or what their circumstances may be.

The investigation takes some time to get off the ground, but this gives Wyer the time to let the reader know a little more about the people involved. I appreciate this approach as it helps me to think about what may have motivated the killer and who the killer may be. The slow burning plot doesn't last forever though, as towards the end of the novel, there is a definite sense of tension and danger and I was on the edge of my seat!

In Somebody's Daughter, Wyer begins to answer some of the long held questions of this series and there is definitely more to come out of these revelations. I look forward to seeing what happens next!

Okay. First things first. I am glad to report that, this time at least, Carol Wyer has been just that little bit kinder to Natalie. A little bit. Her personal life is finally settling after the tragedy that changed everything and with her professional life taking a rather dramatic turn at the end of the last book, we pick up with Natalie now promoted to DCI at the helm of a new division, with Lucy Carmichael now taking on the DI role. And what a case she is handed to make or break her new career. A young woman found murdered in a little used carpark notorious for its links to prostitution. But who is she and who could possibly want her dead? These are just two of the questions facing Natalie and co as the case grows and takes a very unexpected turn. The body count starts to increase, but how do you track a killer when there is no clear link between the victims?

Like all other Natalie Ward stories, this book had me from the outset. It is not your most usual of openings to a crime novel perhaps - a fight between two siblings - but one which soon leads to the real crux of the story and a tragedy that is set to devastate a family. But things are never quite as simple as they seem, and Carol Wyer is adept at creating a story which has more twists and turns than spaghetti junction and that will keep you guessing right to the end. As we slowly settle into the investigation, we are left with a very varied cast of suspects, characters all clearly hiding something. We have to wait some time to find out what, the author keeping that under wraps until just the right moment, using the reveal to surprise and, in some cases, shock the reader. I'm not going to lie, whilst not gratuitous in terms of violence, the implications of what happens to lead us to these murders is not particularly palatable, and it is hard to feel sympathy towards most of the people involved.

As is typical of this series, there are a number of scenes which are told in a kind of flashback, scenes which go towards explaining some of what happens through the course of the investigation, as well as moments of reflection by the main characters. Again, these are not your uplifting, heartwarming chapters, but they do start to clear some of the fog that has been thus far been hindering the investigation. All handled carefully, all sadly too credible, but certain scenes are definitely a precursor to what comes to pass.

One of the key successes of this series has to be the characters that Carol Wyer has developed, of how well the team work together and how invested in them we have become over the course of the first five novels. Due to the changes in rank and structure, it adds a new perspective to the team, new tensions and challenges, and this serves to freshen up the team dynamic. With Lucy promoted there is a kind of unspoken there for Murray to prove himself worthy of recognition, and even Natalie finds it hard to adapt, having to step back and not overstep Lucy's authority. Even Lucy is struggling, the promotion coming at a time when she also has a newly extended family to think about adding a layer of pressure and doubt that she could have done without given all the attention her first high profile case as SIO is receiving. It all felt authentic and I am looking forward to seeing what this means for the team as they all move forward.

I will admit that when we first met Natalie back in book one I wasn't sure about her as a character. She seemed quite tense to begin with, especially if you compared her to the more down to earth character of Robyn Carter from the author's other crime series. She has definitely grown on me over the course of the series, the situations she has found herself in, the tragic course of her life making her feel much more human and approachable. She is still efficient, still focused, bit overall more relaxed and give all that has happened to her, that is good to see.

The pacing in the story really picks up in the final third of the book. As the killer's motives start to become clear, and certain facts are revealed, the author helps readers navigate their way through scenes in which the tension starts to build and the overwhelming sense of jeopardy approaches a really critical point ... But if you want to know what that is and what happens to our favourite team, you are going to have to read the book, aren't you.

A definite must read for fans of the series. It feels like the beginning of something slightly new, but with all the familiarity of the team which has come to know and love and I can't wait to see how the series evolves from here on in.

This book is a twisty, turning roller coaster of a read. How well do you really know people? So many ups and down! Is that "upstanding citizen" really a good person or are u just seeing what you want to believe? The case was so puzzling I could not even hazard a guess to which way it would go definetly reccommend!

Oh my! Just when I thought Carol couldn’t produce anymore twists and turns in a book! Several times I thought I knew who the killer was but how wrong was I! A really enjoyable, gripping read and congratulations Natalie and Lucy on your promotions!!